Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Farewell Regular Season

The regular season is over. Dunedin and Lansing will be the Jays affiliates that get playoff action this year.

Scranton WB 2 at Syracuse 4

The Chiefs end the season with a win. Marcum got the start and pitched 6 innings, giving up 2 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits and a walk. He struck out 6. Murphy picked up the win with 2 scoreless innings.

At the plate no Chief managed more than one hit. Kevin Melillo did do some damage with his, hitting a 2 run HR to go along with 2 walks. Lydon, Luna and Coats all had doubles.

New Hampshire 4 at Portland 1

Robert Ray continued his alternating boom and bust starts with a boom. He pitched 6 innings, giving up 1 run while striking out 7.

JP Arencibia had two hits including a double to lead the Fisher Cats. He finished the year 36 doubles and 27 HRs and hit .282/.302/.496.

Scott Campbell never got back in the groove coming back from his injury going 9-62 from August on. But even with that he still hit .302/.398/.427 for the year after jumping over Dunedin.

Dunedin - Day off prior to 3 games series with Fort Myers. A webcast of the games will be available.

Lansing 4 at South Bend 2

Darin Mastroianni had two of the Nuts 6 hits. The quartet of Dougher, Barbara, Estanga, and Farquhar didn't allow an earned run over 8 innings. Tim Collins gave up 1 run in the ninth, but still picked up the save. With 98 Ks in 68.1 innings the undrafted (HS) free agent certainly was probably the biggest surprise this season.

Lansing will face South Bend for a 3 game series beginning tomorrow.

Mahoning Valley 6 at Auburn 1

Not a lot of good things here. Pass.

3 Stars!:
3 - Kevin Melillo
2 - JP Arencibia
1 - Robert Ray

Posted by Pistol on Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 08:32 AM EDT.

Farewell Regular Season | 11 comments | Create New Account

The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

MatO - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 09:32 AM EDT (#191702) #

I think you mean Dunedin and Lansing made the playoffs. Auburn had made a habit of making the playoffs before this year though.

Pistol - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 10:02 AM EDT (#191703) #

Correct. Thanks.

John Northey - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 10:04 AM EDT (#191704) #

Let the evaluations begin!

Robert Ray: did well in A+ and better in AA on the surface - 5-3 4.20 ERA in A+ vs 8-6 3.18 ERA in AA. HR/9: 0.76 A+, 0.56 in AA. BB/9: 2.29 A+, 2.52 AA. SO/9: 7.64 A+, 6.73 AA. Probably ready for AAA next year, but starting in AA wouldn't be the worst thing for him.

Scott Campbell: stayed in AA all year. Career highs across the board - G/R/HR/RBI and Avg/OBP/Slg. They don't have OPS+ for the minors, but do list OPS for the league and for the player so doing a very, very rough version (OPS/league OPS) you get for OPS+ estimated: 115 in 2006, 113 in 2007, 111 this year. So compared to the level he is at his production has dropped but not by very much. Entering his age 24 season he'll be in AAA and has to continue to hit 10% above his league to be a lock for the majors at 25 imo. Putting him at third for a game was very smart as that would be his shortest route to the majors. Rolen gets hurt a lot and if Campbell can play a solid third then he'll be in line for the everyday job at third in 2011 at age 26. Second has Hill in the majors plus Inglett plus Scutaro. If he can play a solid SS (only played 2 innings there this year) the route would be shorter still but I doubt he can - it is rare to go from 2B to SS.

MatO - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 10:25 AM EDT (#191706) #

The Fisher Cat home field hurts RH power hitters like JPA. He hit .258 .268 .439 at home and .308 .336 .554 on the road. RH' hitters Dopirak, Patterson and Butler average about .100 higher SLG on the road.

Mike Green - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 10:48 AM EDT (#191707) #

RH batters Smith, Kratz and Mathews have large home field advantages. It is a shame that firstinning.com does not have park factors by handedness for New Hampshire. I suspect that there is a significant difference (on some days, the wind does blow in from left and knock balls down), but it's much less than 100 points of slugging.

MatO - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 11:03 AM EDT (#191709) #

I've never considered Matthews to be a power hitter. Kratz had only 100 AB (I know, Dopirak had less) and Smith I've always thought of as a LH hitter and I refuse, after all these years, to change my perception of him!

lexomatic - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 12:50 PM EDT (#191712) #

John, as rare as it may be for a 2B to switch to SS in the majors, let us not forget that the recently traded Eck is a good example of this. If he could play SS as well as Eck but with better offense, i'd try it.

Gerry - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 01:06 PM EDT (#191714) #

Ricky Romero ends his 2008 season by being named IL pitcher of the week.

John Northey - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 01:47 PM EDT (#191715) #

A good question now is who goes to AAA in 2009, AA, A+,...

Doing a fast look at AAA... (hopefully not including guys who've been traded/released)
CA: Jeroloman/Arencibia (Thigpen in majors or backup)
1B: Dopirak (need room in AA for Cooper, has to impress or be gone)
2B: Campbell
3B: Luna or Lopez (holdovers from this year, Lopez more of a SS)
SS: Chris Gutierrez (AA-254/363/362)
LF: Buck Coats (AAA)
CF: Aaron Mathews (AA-296/347/421)
RF: David Smith (AA-265/362/495 plus 302/422/509 in limited AAA time)
DH: Kyle Phillips (AA-306/370/455)
UT: Russ Adams (AAA - 259/341/417)

Pitching...starters...
Brett Cecil
Robert Ray
Rickey Romero
Brad Mills
Davis Romero

Pitching...relievers...
Zach Dials
Jo Matumoto
Lots of AAAA guys

Funny, looking at the relievers I was surprised how many were 26+ which suggests they are minor league free agents (Matumoto isn't yet even though he is 37 as this is his 2nd pro season in MLB's minors). Just hadn't picked up on that this year.

I'm guessing guys like Chip Cannon will be released and many kids promoted. A few AAAA guys will be signed pushing some, like Dopirak probably, to AA or roles they haven't been doing before (say, moving leftward on the defensive spectrum). I'd expect the Jays to look for a 3B/SS AAAA guy this winter along with a few more relief non-prospects who might work out ala Carlson this year.

Gerry - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 02:01 PM EDT (#191716) #

Dopirak, Smith and probably Phillips are minor league free agents. I could see Dopirak re-signing but he will go to AA and Cooper will go to Dunedin. Similarly Mills and Ray will go back to AA.

You are forgetting that AAA is like a reserve team for the big leagues so the Jays will sign some minor league free agents who have major league experience to fill the gaps. The working rule is that you put your prospects where they need to be and fill in around them with free agents.

John Northey - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 03:05 PM EDT (#191717) #

Good point about AAA being the 'ready to replace' group but...

Robert Ray in AA had 16 starts with a 3.18 ERA. I suspect the Jays will want to push him thus even if he begins the year in AA he'll be in AAA before long.
Brad Mills shot up the ladder this year, finishing with 6 AA starts where he threw 32 2/3 IP with a 1.10 ERA (yes, one point one zero) and a K an inning almost (32). He improved at each level and looks like he'll force his way into the rotation before we know it
Cooper in A+ ball (Dunedin) hit 304/373/435. He played 21 games in A-, 24 in A, 24 in A+. His season total stat line was 333/399/502. This kid is moving fast and the Jays need a first baseman/DH by 2011 at the latest (Overbay's contract runs out after 2010). AA in 2009, AAA in 2010 and if he does well enough in AA next year he'll get AAA time later in the season and a September call-up ala Snider this year. I don't see any way the Jays will leave him in A+ to even start 2009 let along for any serious length of time.
Dopirak I could see being left in AA to be the DH mainly, and pushing him to AAA is indeed pushing it.

I'm sure someone here will put together a full minor league report on who the minor league free agents in the system are, who is most likely to be promoted, who will be dumped, etc. a bit later but I just felt it was a good time to start talking about it. Thanks for the references on the minor league free agents. Btw, does 40 man roster status affect it in any way?

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